Monday, October 6, 2014

So I've obviously skipped Keila's 45th and 46th month updates. I kept meaning to get to them, but honestly with the chaos of preparing to move overseas and everything else we had going on, it just didn't happen. I guess this update will be chock full of surprises, then!

1. We have been in Japan for about a week and a half, and while Keila seems to be understanding a bit more of the language, she still isn't speaking more than a few words. I'm guessing this will all change after she starts kindergarten, though. Keila is also confusing people with her British accent, since they then also hear my American one. Wonder how long she'll keep it for? Hopefully it sticks, as I think it's quite cute!
Keila is also using quite complex phrases in sentences, such as 'I'm eating an apple right at this moment'.
2. Jet lag threw us for a loop in the sleep department, but that's to be expected of anyone with an 8 hour time change to adjust to. We're back to sleeping through the night again now (mostly).
3. Keila is still really into jumping around and climbing things, and as of 2 days ago she's taught herself how to move hand-by-hand along a bar (not quite monkey bars, just on on straight horizontal pole). She has also suddenly made huge leaps forward with her drawings---she will color designs into coloring books, make 3-D animal pictures (head on one side of the paper, back on the other) and basically spend any and all free time drawing or coloring. I know she's my kid so obviously everything she does is great (haha), but really it's impressive!
Keila also seems to be on the verge of starting to read. I got her some very easy rhyming phonics books, and she can point out words when I ask where a certain one is on the page, although she won't necessarily say what the word is when I point to it and ask her. We're getting there, though.
Not sure when we will get back to swimming, but I think we will start lessons once we get settled here. More on that in the future.
Keila misses all of her friends in England very much, and we talk about them every day. We've been drawing some cards for them and have mailed a few pictures off already. She's been remarkably happy here so far though, probably because we are still at Grandpa's house and she loves her Grandpa!
4. A story for this post....well there are probably a ton seeing as how long it's been since I posted, but yesterday's comes to mind. Keila was talking to her daddy on the phone last night, and he accidentally hung up on her. Keila handed me the receiver and said 'I guess Daddy's lunch is over. The bell is ringing'. She knows he has a bell at the end of lunch at his company, so she just assumed that's what the dial tone was.
5. Last but not least....I have no clue how much Keila weighs. I think she's holding steady around 17 kilos? I roughly measured her with a kids' store height chart yesterday, and she was well over 105 cm so growing quickly!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Well, seeing as it's nearing time for Keila's 45 month update, I figured I'd better get her 44 month one done. The 6th of July came and went with family here visiting, and I did realize about 2 days late that I hadn't posted her blog, but then I just never got around to doing it. Until now.
So...here's what she's been doing in the past month and a half!

1. My entire family was commenting on what a cute British accent Keila has...and she likes to use British English more than American English, probably because she's often speaking with her British friends at nursery or church. She likes to correct me when I say the 'wrong' word and tells me how to say it the British way.
2. Sleep progress went sharply downhill with all our visitors, but we are finally back on track after I resorted to bribing her to sleep through the night. At this point, I will do whatever it takes to get some rest!
3. We haven't been swimming lately, but hopefully we will get the chance to go to the pool after our holiday in a few weeks. I did buy Keila a paddling pool for the back yard (back garden, as she would tell me) but it's only recently been warm enough to get it out. Hopefully the lack of practice won't set her back at all.
Keila is on summer vacation from nursery school now, so she's been keeping me busy. She has a little farmer tan despite the fact that I keep slathering her with sunscreen every few hours. We've been to the splash pad at the park, on picnics, and just playing outside as much as possible. I find that sleep quality improves in proportion to how much outdoor time she gets!
Keila is also asking me to teach her math and numbers, so we've started basic addition and subtraction. She gets the concept without any problem, and she can even add and subtract a few numbers in her head without counting them out. Not sure if she's just memorized the answers or what, but it's a great start. I think that reading will likely follow shortly, as she's been asking me to teach her that, too.
4. Quick story for this post: Keila kept asking me tonight how to say in Japanese something about 'eating a real toe'. I told her that nobody eats toes, real or otherwise. She got quite frustrated and kept insisting that yes, it was about 'eat a real toe' and it means 'thank you'! I finally figured out that she was trying to ask how to pronounce 'ARIGATOU'! Haha!
5. Keila is about 16.8 kilos, not sure of her height but people are talking again about how much she's grown. Will try to measure her before the next post!

Friday, June 6, 2014

It's been another month already! Keila keeps progressing in leaps and bounds, too.

1. Keila's British accent continues to come along, as does her grasp of the English language in general. She will often ask me what words mean when we are reading and then sometimes try to use them later. Japanese is still pretty much never spoken, although she did say 'Itai' (ouch/it hurts) the other day when she bumped her elbow.
2. Sleep is ok, although Keila likes to wake up around midnight now and request a glass of water if I've forgotten to leave one by her bed. Still no accidents even without the diapers, too!
3. Keila has been loving playing outside now that the weather is slightly warmer, and will happily spend an afternoon at the park if allowed. She's very confident ie fearless about climbing anything, which of course leaves me on the verge of a heart attack sometimes. ('Look Mummy! I don't need hands to hold on at the top of the slide!!!').
We are still going swimming once a week and still refusing to put our face in the water. Haven't been able to break out the paddling pool yet as it's just not that warm here. I don't know if she'd even put her face in it either, since she told me she'd do so 'when I am 5'.
Keila's writing is quite good, at least based on comments by other people who have seen her. She does love drawing and will often sit making pictures and cards for up to 20 minutes or more, which is pretty amazing considering how much she loves running around, too.
4. Wasabi's birthday party was a great success; at least I think all the kids enjoyed it. Wasabi herself wasn't too thrilled with the shenanigans, especially the part where she was forced to make an appearance in a birthday hat. Keila is still talking about it a few weeks later, so I'm glad we did it. And the house wasn't even all that trashed afterward, amazingly.
Story related to the party: we did face painting at the party, and apparently it was such a huge hit that another little girl was 'painting' kitty faces on everyone with markers at nursery the following day. She actually had a crowd lined up for it! Keila of course had hers painted but they washed it off before collection time so I unfortunately didn't get to record the moment.
Keila's also convinced that she's marrying Daddy when she grows up, no matter what I say to convince her otherwise. She will at least share with me, though. Haha.
5. No idea how tall Keila is? I think she's about 16.5 kilos now and seems to be growing every day!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Well, Keila is now closer to 4 than she is 3. I'm already having awful thoughts about how she'll be out of the house and off to university before I know it. How is time going by so, so quickly?
But on to her update.

1. Keila is still going strong with the British accent, and she will often correct me if I pronounce things like 'tomato' the American way instead of the British way. Apparently Mommy (Mummy!) doesn't know how to speak properly. The alphabet is another point of contention: 'z' is not 'zeee' but 'zed'. Keila has added her own twist to it however and will randomly say 'e...f....'jed!'' instead of 'e...f...gee'!
2. Still sleeping pretty well for the most part, and now we are officially a big girl ie no more night time diapers! Go Keila!
3. Keila is continuing to gain self-confidence, although this has been a bit troublesome when the self-confidence involves wandering away from Mom or Dad when out and about. Maybe time to bring back the leash? Just joking! Really.
We just ordered a paddling pool for the back yard that is supposedly large enough for kids to submerge themselves. Hoping it will help Keila practice putting her face in the water and getting a bit more at ease. We are also good to go in terms of getting back into the big pool next Monday!
Keila has also really gotten into dress up and princesses recently. She now has 5 Barbie princesses, along with a Barbie horse and a Barbie Jeep, since a friend from church was selling some unwanted toys. Her dolls like to dress up and go to the ball, although now we 'need' to get a prince so they can dance. I tried to tell her that the girls are happy to dance without a prince, but that didn't go over so well. Guess I need to start searching for one on Amazon or Ebay?
4. I'm sure there are tons of stories from this past month but only a few are coming to mind. This afternoon, Keila locked me out of the house while I was unloading groceries from the car. (Honestly, who installs a deadbolt at ankle level on a door??). Thankfully she listened to me and opened the door right away when I told her to. Praying she doesn't catch on to the fact that I won't be able to do much if she doesn't open up! Perhaps now is the time to start carrying a spare set of keys to the patio door?
Other story: Keila has decided that we need to have a birthday party for Wasabi the cat, who is turning 5 this month. I am apparently crazy and have agreed to this idea, so we will be having up to 18 children over to celebrate. Praying for clear skies that day as otherwise this party will be a disaster! Keila is insisting that Wasabi will dress up and perform tricks for everyone, although my bets are on the guest of honor going into hiding for the duration of the party.
5. Not sure of Keila's height, although yet another person told me she seems tall? Her weight is holding steady at 16 kilos, however.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

We've been busy since last month...here's what's happened in the last 30 or so days:

1. Keila's accent is further developing, although into what I'm not sure. One of my friends here told me that she sounded Irish! Keila is also having a bit of a rough time with her r's and l's...as in, most of her l's sound like r's instead. And I thought most kids had trouble with r's, not the other way around. In any case, apparently it's pretty normal and she will likely outgrow it. For now however, Keila has been getting quite frustrated with me when I think she's talking about 'Mari' instead of 'Molly'. Poor kid!
2. Sleep! We are more or less sleeping through the night! And we are having dry nights consistently too, go Keila! Now if we can just get Daddy to stop working so late and getting home in the wee hours, then maybe I will start to catch up on rest at some point.
3. Keila has become more and more outgoing in the past month or so, I think as a result of attending nursery. She will happily wave at strangers when we're out for a walk, and she will reply to most people when they talk to her. Her shyness does return off and on, but overall she seems a lot more confident. During church services she will often try to wander off and go visit some of the women who teach her Sunday school class!
We haven't really been swimming in the past month thanks to Mommy being on crutches, but we're hoping to get back in the pool within the next couple of weeks. One of Keila's little friends just got a couple of swimming badges for putting her face in the water, etc, so hopefully that will spur Keila into getting a bit more adventurous.
4. A few stories this month: Keila started crying one night before bed. When I got her to stop long enough to tell me what was wrong, it turned out that she had heard Wasabi (the cat) sneeze....and then tried to wipe Wasa's nose for her with a tissue. When Wasabi wasn't all that agreeable and then ran away, Keila got quite upset and began crying. She was exhausted but kept insisting that Wasabi 'really needs her nose wiped!!'.
Also, Keila likes to make up fake words sometimes. Today's was 'pungees'. I asked what a pungee was and was informed that they are 'a type of kangaroo; they hop very fast and they don't give people kisses but they do give hugs'. When asked what made them different from regular kangaroos, I was told because 'they are blue' in a tone that implied I should have recognized the obvious!
5. Keila is about 100 cm now!! She's really shop up since the last time I checked her height. I think she's about 16.5 kilos too but that was after a big meal so maybe a bit less?

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Here is Keila's 40 month update....how is time passing by so quickly?? I feel like I'll be doing her 40 year update before I know it!!!

1. Language is still coming along quite well, although Japanese is lacking. People are starting to notice her cute British accent, though. She's picked up a lot from nursery school, although the American accent from Mommy sneaks through at times, too.
2. We are sleeping better, for the most part. Enough so that she sleeps through the night more often than not, and I'm getting accustomed to having a full night's rest again!!!
3. Keila is still enjoying nursery immensely, and she tells me stories about all of her friends there. Her nursery school has a lending library too, and she gets to bring home a book to borrow just about every day. Today, Keila came home from nursery and told me that 'God gave us brains, so I can think'. Clever girl! I can't remember if I mentioned last time that Keila can now write her name on her own? We practiced it a few times, and now she signs cards all by herself! She's very interested in letters and numbers, so we will work more on those in the following month.
Keila is still scared of putting her face in the water while swimming, but this past week she was able to swim with just a ring around her middle, instead of her armbands and the ring. We are definitely making progress!
4. Story of the month: Keila told me yesterday that when Wasabi (the cat) dies, God will tell Wasa to stop being naughty and knocking things onto the floor. (Wasabi has an awful habit of jumping onto counters and dressers and batting around whatever she can find). She also told me that Daddy's work is bad, and we should bury him in bananas so he can't go. Seemed logical enough to me! Haha.
5. I think Keila is still around 16 kilos? Need to measure her height again soon!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Well, I've just about given up on blogging other than Keila's montly updates. Now that she's in nursery, I do have more time but it's spent swimming or cleaning! We did find a new product at Whole Foods the other week that I may post about...maybe. How do people with more than one child find time to blog??
Anyway, here's what Keila has been up to the past month*

1. Language is of course progressing day by day, although her Japanese hasn't made any noticeable improvements since last month. We really need to stop speaking English so much in the house!
2. Sleep has finally gotten somewhat back on track....it was at an all-time low when she was sick with a cold AND we were stupid enough to take her paci away at the same time. Apparently I like to torture myself. Now that we're doing relatively better (she still gets up at night if she needs the toilet), go figure she's caught another cold and has been up a lot tonight already.
3. Keila is doing great full-time at nursery! The transition to eating lunch there and staying until 3 pm has gone really well! By Thursday afternoon she's pretty worn out from 3 straight days of playing and having fun, but she loves it. It's been great for her social skills, too--we aren't quite as shy around other people now, and I often catch her singing songs from school when before she never sang along to much of anything. However, sometimes she's a bit overly confident and I have to chase her through the store when she runs from me!
4. Story of the month....literally a story! Keila was eating dinner and decided to tell me a fairy tale: 'Once upon a time, there was a little mango who thought the sky was falling. He lived in the woods with his mama and hurt his knee.' I asked if he fell and hurt his knee, to which she responded (as if it were obvious): 'NO, he hurt his knee because the sky fell!!'
5. Keila is almost 16 kilos now, so she really has been going through a growth spurt. Not sure how tall she is?

Monday, January 6, 2014

Keila is 38 months today! We've been up to a lot in the past month, too. Here's what's new:

1. Keila's improved her Japanese quite a bit just by being back for a few weeks. She still doesn't speak a ton, but her understanding has made a lot of progress. We are of course speaking more and more in English too.
2. Well, Keila slept GREAT in Japan, once we got over jet lag. Likely due to the fact that she got to share a bed with Mommy and Daddy. Sleep now that we've returned isn't going so great....what else is new, right? I actually had to pause just now to go put her back to bed...the third time she's been up in as many hours!
3. Keila is really, really excited to start full days at nursery this term! She'll go 6 hours, 3 days a week. She's most excited about taking her lunch and eating with the other children.
We had a great time in Japan playing with Grandpa, and Keila keeps asking when she will see him next. She also told me that we're going on another airplane soon, this time to visit Grandma in America. The kid really likes to travel!
Today, Keila earned her first swimming badge! She had to blow bubbles in the water, swim by herself (with floats of course) and get her head wet (but not submerged). She's come a long way from the shrieking 'I-don't-want-to-get-in' child of August!
4. Memorable quotes from the past month.....Wasabi (the cat) puked and Keila commented on how she must not have gotten her flu shot. Another one was confusion regarding 'Wii' the game center and 'wee' as in pee. She thought that Daddy must've strained his back going pee, after I asked if maybe he pulled something while playing Wii. Hah!
5. Keila seems to be holding steady at around 15 kilos and 98/99 cm. Maybe she'll hit another growth spurt soon?